Crossroads International

1. How does Crossroads work?

Crossroads is a resource network. We take goods Hong Kong doesn’t want and give them to people who badly need them. We collect those goods and give them out in the welfare(福利)center in Hong Kong, Mainland China, elsewhere in Asia, Eastern Europe and Africa.   1 

2. Who do we help?

  2  They are grass-root groups who have seen a need and tried to meet it. They can’t get the job done without back-up, though, so our task is to help them do their task. Our warehouse is full of goods, from computers to high chairs, clothing to books, stationery to medical provision, cupboards to dining sets. They send us a list of their needs and we try to match it with the resource we have in stock.

3.   3 

Crossroads itself also operates on a low budget. We do not buy the goods we send. They are donated.   4   Nobody in our organization receives a salary. Even our full-time staff work on a voluntary basis.

Those that donate goods and services:

●Factories     ●Manufacturers

●Hospitals     ●Hotels

●Educational Institutions  ●Householders

●Transport Companies   ●Offices

●Other Charities

  5  While we receive large quantities of goods and there is never a short supply of requests for them, we are always in need of hands to help sort and prepare them for shipping．

    A. One resource that we are always in need of is people．

    B. So Crossroads is just that: a Crossroads between need and resource．

    C. What can I do?

    D. The welfare agencies we help do not run on large budgets．

    E. How do we operate?

    F. All volunteer work is done at our warehouse．

G.. Similarly, rather than raising funds for freight （货运）, we ask transport companies to donate their services．

As we grow up, we gradually develop a set of our own values or beliefs. These are influenced by society, our family, the education we receive and so on. Once this value system is set up, it’s not easy to change later in life. Financial experts say that everyone also has his own belief of how to manage his money. According to our different values, experts put us in three catagories---the ant, the cricket(蟋蟀) and the snail.
★ The ant — work first
Just like ants who work heart and soul in summer in order to store food for winter, these people don't care about enjoying the moment. They work very hard and save money they earn so that they can enjoy life when they get old and retire. The ant loves to save, but they could make more out of their money if they were willing to invest in some funds and stocks with low risk.
★ The cricket — fun first
The cricket wants to enjoy everything now and doesn't think too much about the future. They even borrow money when they really want something. Many young people now belong to this group. These people have little savings. When they get old, they might have problems. They should learn to save and buy insurance.
★ The snail — life under pressure
The snail refers to people who make life difficult for themselves. They take big long-term loans(贷款) from the bank in order to buy things such as luxury houses. They are happy to take big loans even though they are not sure they can afford them. This can cause problems in the future. They should plan more carefully.
【小题1】 One’s values may________.

Crossroads International

How does Crossroads work?

Crossroads is a resource network. We take goods Hong Kong doesn’t want and give them to people who badly need them. We collect those goods and give them out in the welfare arena(福利院) in Hong Kong, Mainland China, elsewhere in Asia, Eastern Europe and Africa. So Crossroads is just that: a Crossroads between need and resource.

Who do we help?

The welfare agencies we help do not run on large budgets(预算). They are grass-root groups who have seen a need and tried to meet it. They can’t get the job done without back-up, though, so our task is to help them do their task. Our warehouse is full of goods, from computers to high chairs, clothing to books, stationery(文具) to medical provision, cupboards to dinning sets. They send us a list of their needs and we try to match it with the resource we have in stock.

How do we operate?

Crossroads itself also operates on a low budget. We do not buy the goods we send. They are donated. Similarly, rather than raising funds for freight(货运)，we ask transport companies to donate their services. Nobody in our organization receives a salary. Even our full-time staff works on a voluntary basis.

Those that donate goods and services:

·Factories ·Manufacturers ·Hospitals ·Hotels  ·Householders

·Offices  ·Other Charities ·Transport Companies ·Educational Institutions

One resource that we are always in need of is people. While we receive large quantities of goods and there is never a short supply of requests for them, we are always in need of hands to help sort and prepare them for shipping.

What can I do?

We are always in need of people. We have a lot of tasks. If you are volunteering regularly, we can offer work in some of the following categories, some of the time. You are welcome to number your top three choices and we will do our best to accommodate them.

·Clothing categorization ·Sewing ·Toy categorization ·Furniture handling

·Driving ·Book categorization ·Household goods categorization ·Office work

·Electrical goods categorization ·Book keeping ·Fund- raising

·Stationery categorization ·Medical categorization

Where to find us?

All volunteer work is done at out warehouse:

Located in Basement Zone M of the Kai Tak Government Building

Our warehouse hours: Tues.-Sat. 10:00am-5:30pm

Postal address: 16 Man Tong, Silvermine Bay, Lantau Island, HK

Office details: Ph: 2984 9309, 2740 9657

1.Crossroads International is             .

   A. a welfare agency     B. a place to store goods donated

 C. an organization to collect goods for those who need them 

 D. an organization run by the government

2. People in poor areas can’t get help from the Crossroads if they need             .

 A. toys and books              B. furniture and computers

 C. fresh water and food            D. clothes and washing machines

3. Which of the following is not the choice if you decide to offer help?

  A. Driving    B. Fundraising      C. Furniture handling   D. Teaching

4.The purpose of this brochure(小册子) is mainly to             .

  A. look for volunteers to work for Crossroads        B. call on people to donate more goods

  C. let people know what Crossroads International is   D. tell people what Crossroads can provide

5.From the above brochure, we can conclude that              .

  A. people who work at Crossroads get low pay from it

  B. Crossroads doesn’t give goods directly to the people who need them

  C. You can do whatever you like if you offer help at Crossroads

  D. Crossroads has collected more goods than needed

Scientists say they now have proof to support the old-fashioned advice that it’s best to sleep on a problem．They say sleep strengthens the memory and helps the brain organize the masses of information we receive each day．

         The lead researcher Bob Stickgold at the Harvard Medical School said, “Sleep helps us draw rules from our experiences．It’s like knowing the difference between dogs and cats even if it’s hard to explain．”

         The US research team studied how well students remembered connections between words and symbols, reports New Scientist．They compared how the students performed if they had had a sleep between seeing the words and having the test, and if they had not slept．They found that people were better able to remember lists of related words after a night’s sleep than after the same time spent awake during the day．They also found it easier to remember themes that the words had in common．But they forgot around one in four more themes if they had been awake．

         Prof．John Groeger, of Survey University’s Sleep Research Centre, said, “People have been trying for years to find out what the purpose of sleep is, as we know that only certain parts of it have a restorative （促使康复的）value．”

         “We form and store huge numbers of experiences in the head every day, and sleep seems to be the way the brain deals with them all．”

1.The phrase “to sleep on a problem” in Paragraph 1 most likely means “________”．

    A．to pay full attention to a problem              

         B．to wait until the next day for a decision

    C．to sleep to forget a problem                  

         D．to have difficulty in sleeping

2.In the study by the US research team, students were asked to ________．

    A．put together words of similar meanings        

         B．remember words and their meanings

    C．show their knowledge of words                

         D．make up lists of related words

3.Which of the following may be easier to remember?

    A．Themes learned right before the test．        

         B．Rules from personal experiences．

    C．Words learned before a good sleep．  

         D．Ideas stored together in the brain．

4.What may be the importance of the research?

    A．It shows that sleep may help us manage information．

    B．It helps find out the common themes of words．

         C．It tells us that more sleep can improve health．

         D．It proves the value of old-fashioned advice．

Sorry to say,our brains naturally start slowing down at the Cruelty young age of 30.It used to be thought that this couldn’t be helped,but new studies show that people of any age can train their brains to work faster.“Your brain is a learning machine,”saying University of California scientist Dr. Michael Merzenich.Given the right tools,we can train our brains to act like they did when we were younger.All that’s required is the practice designed just for the purpose:a few exercises for the mind.

Merzenich has developed a computer-based training method to speed up the process(过程) in which the brain deals with information (positscience.com).Since much of the data we receive comes through speech,the Brain Fitness Program works with language and hearing to better speed and accuracy(准确性).

Over the course of training,the program starts asking you to distinguish(辨别) sounds (between“dog”and“bog”,for example) at an increasingly faster speed.It’s a bit like tennis instructor,says Merzenich,hitting balls at you—faster and faster to keep you challenged(受到挑战).You may start out slow,but before long you’re pretty quick.

The biggest finding in brain research in the last ten years is that the brain at any age is highly plastic.If you ask your brain to learn,it will learn.And it may even speed up while in the process.

To keep your brain young and plastic you can do one of a million new activities that challenge and excite you:playing table tennis or bridge,doing crossword puzzles,learning a language...“When it comes to preventing ageing,you really do ‘use it or lose it’,”says Barbara Sahakian,professor at Cambridge University.

1.Dr.Merzenich’s training method mainly depends on ______.

A.speech training

B.computer languages

C.the activities one joins in

D.the information being dealt with

2.By saying “the brain at any age is highly plastic”,the writer probably means the brain can be ______.

A.used                                  B.mastered

C.developed                             D.researched

3.What can we learn from the text?

A.Practice makes a quick mind.

B.Brain research started ten years ago.

C.Dr. Merzenich is a scientist in computer.

D.People believed nothing could stop the brain slowing down.

4.Which of the following agrees with the writer’s idea?

A.The training methods work better for the old.

B.People should use the brain to stop it from ageing.

C.The training of the brain should start at an early age.

D.It’s necessary to take part in as many activities as possible.